About half of the Santa Clara Inn’s 56 units could become transitional housing quarters for the homeless, according to a recent proposal.

Though the plan has received support from the San Jose City Council and nonprofit Abode Services has stepped up to manage the motel at 2188 The Alameda, some residents say the neighborhood has enough problems and doesn’t need more homeless people to come in and add to them.

Abode plans to use an $8.6 million council-approved loan from the city housing department to buy the property and run a homeless housing program that includes case management services for up to 10 years. To do that, the nonprofit must obtain a conditional use permit and the council’s approval to rezone the site from planned development to commercial. When the 10-year term is up, Abode would have the option to either sell the property or keep it and refinance any remaining debt to pay back the city.

Under Adobe’s plan, 27 studio units would be permanent housing and the other 29 units would be used to house homeless individuals for up to 28 days.

At an Oct. 5 community meeting hosted by staff from the city and Abode at the Holy Redeemer Church in the Rose Garden neighborhood, residents said they’re afraid the motel will create more problems in the already troubled neighborhood.

One woman whose dental office is next door said some people regularly bypass motel management by trespassing through her property to visit friends at the motel. She and other neighbors also reported seeing an increase in hypodermic needles and human feces around the area.

“There are people in there that are helping their friends with camping on my property,” she said. “People cannot get in your front door because you have the manager there so they go over to my property, they pull my trash can up to the fence and they climb over from my fence.”

John White, director of properties and assets for Abode, said overnight security will be provided at the motel and noted that drug dealers and prostitutes already operate in the area. He said the 17 people who now occupy the motel would be allowed to stay after Abode secures a permit so there would only be an increase of 10 permanent residents.

All applicants for permanent housing would be thoroughly screened, White added, and those staying in the temporary units would be referred to the motel, which is being renamed Casa de Novo, through third-party partnerships.

The City Council is expected to decide in December whether to rezone the site and issue permits.

Julia Baum is a staff writer for the weekly Resident newspapers, which cover San Jose's Districts 6, 9, and 10. Prior to joining Bay Area News Group, she graduated from Sacramento State University as a journalism major and worked as a freelance reporter.

Researchers said Sunday the mass die-off occurred because unusually large amounts of sea ice forced penguin parents to travel farther in search of food for their young. By the time they returned, only two out of thousands of chicks had survived.